Nickel-Bred (9 page)

“Addie is okay,” said Dad. “Harvey and I
passed her on the way in and told her to wait there until things
were under control. She was on that grey gelding. Do you know
anything about that?”

“Probably,” was all I could say.

Weak with relief, I hugged Miss Julie, Mom,
Sam and then my dad again. I didn’t hug Harvey Martin, but I
thought about it for a minute

We all needed drinks of water after the
greasy towels in our mouths, and we needed to get out of the
basement that had almost become a firetrap. We trooped upstairs and
sat around the table drinking water and lemonade while we
recovered. A fire truck was parked on the lawn and a large hose ran
through to the living room. The smell of smoke was still
strong.

“
Don’t worry, the fire was small and
it’s completely out. You’ll have a little water and a little smoke
damage, Miss Julie, and I think your couch will need to get tossed.
That’s about it, though,” said the sheriff.

“Tell us what happened,” I said.

“As soon as the 911 call from Addie came in,
our operator called me and I happened to be having coffee with Dan
here. When he found out who had called and where it was, no way
could I keep him from following me.

“When I drove up to the house, two perps were
already in their car, with the other one loading bags from the
house. With Dan’s help, I held a gun on them and we got them all on
the ground in cuffs.” He smiled. “They’re still out there waiting
for a patrol car to take them to jail. I called the fire department
as soon as I saw some smoke. They were here in three minutes. While
they put out the fire, Dan and I ran down to the basement and found
all of you. You were really lucky Addie got through as quickly as
she did.”

“Piper,” said Dad, “Again, I’m so proud of
you. I can’t overstate it. Yours and Addie’s quick thinking saved
everyone’s life here.”

I sighed and my heartfelt bigger in my chest.
“Addie is the hero. She rode Nickel out in the rain in the dark and
I know she was really scared. So, Dad, Mom, can we keep Nickel?
He’s a hero, too.”

“Keep him? What do you mean? Of course we
have to keep him. I’m never riding another horse,” said Addie from
the doorway. She was dripping wet and smiling from ear to ear. “And
Piper is the hero. If not for her, Chickie would have dragged me
off the horse, or spooked him so he ran away.”

I jumped up and hugged her. “You saved us
all,” I said, as she hugged me back. “Did you have any trouble with
Nickel?”

“Not a bit. He was an angel. No, I can’t say
angel. He was a jewel!”

“Why not an angel?” asked Mom.

So I told everyone about Angel’s threats,
Chickie’s phone call and how I walked out to get Nickel and rode
him back in the storm. Everyone stared at me as if I had somehow
become a superhero, but really, who wouldn’t have done it to save a
horse’s life? I did what I had to do.

Mom came over and hugged me tight. “I am so
glad we will be rid of those horrible people.”

“Angel was the ringleader,” I said. “Earl
went along with her. Chickie wanted to leave, but she talked him
into staying and putting us in the basement. He wasn’t all bad-- at
least he wanted a good home for Nickel.”

“Maybe he wasn’t all bad,” said Dad, “but he
was bad enough to take you into that house and leave you tied in
that basement while Crazy Lady set a fire. That’s plenty bad.”

“You said it,” said Harvey Martin. “You make
choices like that, you should expect to pay for it.

“I hope those people get put in prison for
fifty years,” Mom said. “I was scared for all of us, but then you
came in. You’ll never know how it feels until you have a child of
your own. And as far as I’m concerned, you can have all the horses
you want.”

“Could I have that in writing?” I said, and
everyone laughed. They thought I was kidding. “But where is Nickel
now?”

“I tied him to your dad’s truck bumper a
minute ago,” said Addie.

“I think I’ll go take him to the barn and
give him a special treat.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Addie, “I would have
taken him myself, but I had to make sure everyone was okay.”

“Well, folks, if y’all are okay now, I think
I’ll go out and wait for the patrol car,” said the sheriff. “I’ll
follow it to the station and make sure everyone is tucked in for
the night. Miss Julie? Miz Jones?” Miss Julie and Mom nodded that
they were fine, so the sheriff waved and ducked out the
backdoor.

“
Dan, what about Willie Nelson?” asked
Miss Julie. She was holding the kitten.

My dad took the little ball of fur and
cuddled it in his arms. He felt around on it, moved its legs and
looked in its eyes.

“He doesn’t seem any worse for wear. Maybe a
bit bruised, so watch him for any limping, but I think he’ll be
fine. Nothing seems broken.”

He deposited the kitten in Miss Julie’s lap
again, where it curled up and purred so loud we could hear it
across the room. She stroked it and smiled.

Addie and I went out the backdoor and stood a
minute, watching the criminals tied up on the lawn. They looked
angry and uncomfortable.

“You!” shouted Angel, looking at me. “Hey,
brat! Come over here! I have something for you!”

Having someone hate me that much made me
nervous, so we gave them a wide berth. We walked to where Nickel
was tied to my dad’s truck bumper. I wanted to ride him with a
saddle on, so I mounted and turned him toward the barn.

At that moment, Angel came flying across the
lawn with a large tree branch clasped in her handcuffed hands,
swinging it at Nickel’s head. I saw it, but the horse didn’t.
Luckily, his blindness had prevented him from shying away. I turned
him away from Angel as Dad jumped on her and wrestled the branch
away from her. Sheriff Martin grabbed her and pushed her back with
the others, where he put her on the ground and tied her feet
together.

“You jerk!” she shouted to Dad. “You had a
chance and you blew it! And you and your little brat kid will be
sorry. I should have put a bullet in the stupid horse’s brain a
long time ago.”

At that point Harvey put a gag in her mouth,
as a patrol car arrived. ”Well, girls, I think we’re done here. Put
the horse up and go get some rest,” said Harvey Martin.

And that’s what we did.

Chapter
Seventeen

~ Riding Together ~

We had to
wait another day for Addie to be able to ride again. She had
reinjured her ankle when she had jumped down off of Nickel. Dr.
Williams didn’t want her to stress it any more than she already had
and told her to rest it another day. I couldn’t rest when there was
a new horse in our barn, so I spent the day brushing Nickel and
Dotty, riding them one at a time around the corral, and generally
spoiling them both with apples and carrots

Dad came out and watched me ride, shaking his
head at how I had gotten an extra horse. Mom and Sam spent lots of
time with Miss Julie, partly to keep an eye on her after our ordeal
and partly because they were getting more and more friendly. Miss
Julie spent the time reading or dozing on her porch with Willie
Nelson purring in her lap.

The day Addie could ride, I had a dentist
appointment and Addie had a swimming class, so we agreed to meet at
the barn after supper. Mom made hamburger casserole and when we had
finished and cleaned up, she drove me out to Miss Julie’s. We got
out of the car and there was Sam, with a big smile on his face. He
hugged Mom and kissed her forehead. Then he hugged me, too. They
walked up to the porch swing and sat there like two lovebirds, Mom
gently patting his cut lip.

Miss Julie was in her wicker rocking chair
with Willie Nelson on her lap and a big glass of iced tea on the
table next to her. She put down her book and looked at me. “Piper,
do you think you have enough horses now?”

“Yes, ma’am, I think I do,” I said, grinning.
I turned and walked to the barn to find the tack we would need.

Addie showed up a few minutes later.

“Okay. Let’s do this!”

Some horses were hard to catch when you
wanted to ride, but not ours. Addie walked right up to Nickel and
took hold of his halter. I threw a lead rope over Dotty’s neck, and
then slipped the attached halter onto her head. We led them into
the barn and brushed them both, Addie with Nickel and me with
Dotty.

“I think I need a mounting block,” said
Addie.

We pulled a wooden crate over by the barn
door for her to use. I held Nickel’s head while she pulled herself
up and threw her leg over his back. She settled into the saddle,
took the reins and walked carefully around the corral. I opened the
gate, turned and got on Dotty.

We clicked to our horses and walked past the
old house with Mom, Sam, Miss Julie and Willie Nelson watching.

“Have fun,” said Sam.

“Be careful,” said Mom.

“Don’t get lost,” said Miss Julie.

“Give me a break!” I said. “Let’s go, Addie,
or they will give us advice till it’s too dark to see!”

“Where to?” she wanted to know.

“Down the road,” I said, leading the way on
the pony.

Waving goodbye to the adults, Dotty and I
walked down the lane and toward the woods, heading west. Addie
followed until we could ride next to each other. We rode side by
side past Dotty’s old shed where we hid her from Ugly Jake. We rode
till the sun got low in the sky and turned the trees to
shadows.

“You know what, Piper?”

“What, Addie?”

“We can always ride together now, whenever we
want to.”

“Of course we can, that was the point of
getting Nickel. Hey, Adds? You surprised me when you got right on
Nickel to go get help.”

“Why? I just needed a reason to get on him.
I’m only afraid when I start thinking and worrying, but there
wasn’t time. I knew I could ride him.”

“Adds, do I boss you around too much?”

Addie was quiet for a minute, considering the
question. She turned in the saddle so she could look me in the
eyes.

“The truth, Pipe?”

“Always the truth,” I said.

“Truth is, sometimes, yeah. Sometimes you are
too bossy. But that’s who you are and you’re my best friend. And I
don’t have to listen.”

“Okay, then.”

“Okay.”

So my best friend and I rode together to the
best sound in the world, the clip-clop of horses’ hoofs riding into
the sunset.

About the Author

Patricia Gilkerson spent a horse-loving
childhood growing up in Kentucky, and finally got her first horse
as an adult. She began writing books for children at night after
teaching all day. Today Patricia lives on a hobby farm in Minnesota
with her husband Jim, and the current count of three horses. Her
two children are grown with children and pets of their own, so
there are frequently grandchildren and granddogs running around her
house. Her hobbies include travel, Irish/Celtic music, scuba diving
and reading. Her favorite thing to do is to hang out with family
and friends.

Like her on Facebook at Patricia Gilkerson

Check her
website at
patriciagilkerson.com

Also available from Fire and Ice

The Penny Pony, Book 1 of the Horse Rescuers
Series

Coming July 2014

Turning on a Dime

Book Three in the Horse Rescuers Series

Piper and Addie meet Cassie, whose pregnant
mare will foal soon, and Piper has the responsibility of checking
on her daily. What will happen when Cassie disappears, her mare
goes into labor, and no one but the girls and Cassie's son, Jeff,
are available to help? 

Turn the page for more books
available
from Fire & Ice

Also Available
From Fire & Ice

The Penny Pony
The Horse Rescuers #1

by Patricia Gilkerson

Piper Jones has always loved horses, but
little did she know what would happen when she and her best friend,
Addie tried to help a neglected pony. When all the adults in her
life can't or won't help, Piper and Addie take matters into their
own hands. They must find a safe haven for the pony and protect it
from its cruel owner. A little old lady from Piper's past steps up
to help and a suspected liar proves he's not a bad guy at all. But
as the girls try to solve a mystery involving the suspicious owner,
will they be forced into crime themselves in order to save their
new-found pony friend?